


Intrigued

by KatieComma



Series: Harper Hayes [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: M/M, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Torture, macdalton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-16 06:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16080071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieComma/pseuds/KatieComma
Summary: Jack is kidnapped by Harper Hayes and is unsettled to find he's got more in common with her than he thought.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit of a follow up to my first Harper Hayes story where Jack is used as bait for Mac.
> 
> I kinda loved the idea of Harper being Jack's Murdoc... so I rolled with it and wrote this creepy little follow up.

“I don’t like this,” Jack said. Again. But no one was listening. “Somethin’ ain’t right.” 

There was a feeling Jack had developed after years in the field, a twinge in his gut that told him when things were going right, and when they were about to take a hard left. Jack’s gut told him there was a hard left coming up, over the side of a steep cliff, probably with crocodiles at the bottom.

“Yeah, you’ve been saying that all day,” Mac said dismissively, eyes intent on the video screens in the back of the van.

“Oh! So you _have_ been listening,” Jack scoffed as he donned his tac vest and started to gear up.

“Come on Jack,” Mac replied, “the intel is good. Murdoc is here.”

“The intel,” Jack paused for dramatic effect, “is shaky at best. This contact, we haven’t been in touch with him in years. And suddenly now he pops his head up and says: ‘hey guys! Got a murderer over here. Come grab ‘im?’”

“Jack’s not wrong,” Matty added over comms. “You guys be careful in there.”

“Or,” Jack proposed, “we could not go in at all and stay alive?”

Mac rolled his eyes at Jack. “It’s going to be fine,” he said. “It will all be worth it to get Murdoc.”

Jack grabbed Mac roughly by the shoulder and pulled him away from the bank of monitors and away from Riley. He pulled first his earpiece, and then Mac’s out and tossed them carelessly across the van so they could be alone.

“Listen Mac,” Jack said, pitching his voice low to keep the conversation private. “I get it. Murdoc is a big deal for you. But you gotta stop runnin’ head first into these ops.”

Mac sighed. The look in his eyes and the set of his brows told Jack he was frustrated. “We’ve got this Jack. It’s just a quick in and out. If the intel’s bad, then we’ll just leave. No harm, no foul.”

“See, now you’re just askin’ for it,” Jack sneered. “Just don’t go doin’ somethin’ stupid, ok?”

“Define stupid,” Mac said.

“If you’re about to do somethin’ that I would think was a good idea…” Jack trailed off.

“It’s stupid,” they said in unison.

“You guys almost done your heart to heart?” Riley asked, keeping her eyes on the screens. “Cause this show’s about to start.”

Jack retrieved the earpieces from the far end of the van, blew the dust off them and handed Mac’s back to him.

“I’m takin’ my extra piece,” Jack said, grabbing an extra gun from his bag. “And some grenades too.”

Mac frowned and shook his head. “Grenades? Really? What are you gonna do with grenades?”

Jack frowned right back. 

“Blow stuff up,” Riley and Jack said at the same time. Gotta love that family synchronicity.

“I’m takin’ ‘em,” Jack defended further as he continued to load up. “Got a bad feelin’ in my gut about this one.”

“Are you sure that’s not the roadside lunch you picked up this afternoon?” Riley quipped.

“Sure as pudding in July,” Jack replied.

Riley and Mac both turned to him, confused looks on their faces.

“Ok, that one didn’t make any sense,” Mac said.

“Yeah Jack, I love your southern charm as much as the next guy, but what does that even mean?” Riley asked.

“Enough chatter,” Matty cut in. “If you’re gonna do this blondie, you’d better move now.”

Jack shot Mac one last pleading look, but Mac’s face was all cold operative. He wasn’t budging on this one. So Jack double checked all his weapons and waited for instruction.

 

 

Jack woke up cold. Freezing cold all over. His fingers were like icicles. His head felt fuzzy, like he was half drunk on something really good; good like Uncle Ray’s bathtub moonshine. The headache matched too.

Opening his eyes was difficult, like his brain wasn’t working with… well with any part of his body. Despite the fact that he knew he was cold, Jack couldn’t move his fingers or arms.

When he struggled his eyelids open it didn’t help much. He was in the middle of a bright pool of light coming down from above. It looked like natural light, maybe a high window or a skylight. The rest of the room was black around him. He couldn’t tell if he was even in a room. Maybe a cave.

“I’ve been waiting for you to wake up,” a soft feminine voice surrounded him, echoing off the walls. It seemed far too close for Jack’s liking but he didn’t flinch. Delta’s don’t flinch.

Jack ignored the voice surrounding him and reached back to his memory. How in the hell did he get where he was? It was blank. The last thing he remembered clearly was getting on the jet and heading to some flower-town in Norway chasing a rumour about Murdoc. After that, nothing. Maybe their plane had crashed? Where were Mac and Riley? Suddenly panic lit him up like a Christmas tree, and he felt the blood flowing through his veins all the way down to his feet. As the adrenaline kicked in, he could move his limbs again and he felt more awake. That’s when he noticed the position he was in. Hanging, his wrists shackled together overhead, feet chained to the floor. His body ached and creaked. He’d been there a while.

Footsteps echoed around him and his captor stepped into the light. Jack rolled his eyes and let his head flop back in frustration.

“Really?” Jack asked as he stared down Harper Hayes. “You again? I should’a shot you last time.”

She smiled and winked at him. “You tried, but I was better.”

Jack made a non-committal noise. “If I am recalling correctly, and I am, we ran you off.”

“Two against one wasn’t a very fair fight,” she said. “But the past is in the past, and now we’re here. All alone. With all the time in the world to get to know each other.”

“Is this about Murdoc again?” Jack asked. “Usin’ me as bait twice in a row? Mac’s gonna smell this one a mile off.”

Harper laughed. It was an uncomfortable sound, like the yowl of a dying cat. “Angus MacGyver’s not coming for you this time,” she said. Standing in front of him, her hands clasped behind her back, she looked like a soldier. Most likely old habits dying hard. “I left him another trail to follow. If he finds us, it’s going to take quite a long time. So sit back and relax.”

“Oh ha ha,” Jack said, twisting a little to jangle the chains on his feet. Terrible idea. Pain lit up his body, specifically his shoulders which felt like they might twist right off like a turkey leg. “What do you want with me then? I ain’t gonna tell you anything.”

“You know Jack,” she said softly, moving closer, “this is about something so much more than information. I find you really interesting.”

“Just what I always wanted,” he replied, “to be intriguing to a total psychopath. Guess I know how Mac feels now. I gotta tell you, it’s mighty unsettlin’.”

“I should really be more fond of that kid you run around with, he’s much more clever,” Harper said. “But you speak my language Jack.” The last she spoke with a sort of loving reverence, and her eyes softened a little.

“I’m fairly certain we’ve already established that I’m nowhere near fluent in crazy,” Jack said. “What about French, though? Dutch? I’ve got those two in the bag. Ish.”

“I was talking about killing, Jack,” Harper replied, her voice still soft. “Me and you, we’re the same. I just got the short end of the stick.”

“Spell that one out for me,” Jack scoffed.

“See, I was undercover for the CIA. Deep cover. Overseas. In bad places, dealing with bad people,” she said.

“If the shoe fits,” Jack snuck in under his breath.

“And then they pulled me, and I came home. And they said: here’s a desk for you Harper, now just forget that anything ever happened and go get that life you should want: Picket fences and husbands and kids. And immediately there was a hole inside me that I couldn’t fill. That ache deep down. And I missed it,” she was lost in her own story, her eyes distant as she watched it play out in her imagination. “The familiar recoil of my handgun. Bullets ricocheting around me. The adrenaline rush from taking a punch.Without all that stuff, I was empty.”

Jack was caught up in her story. Words stuck in his throat and he swallowed them back down. He knew exactly what she meant. When he’d left the army, what would he have done if he hadn’t been recruited by DXS? What would that bottled up need for action have done to him? What would it have made him into?

“See,” Harper broke into his thoughts, a wide smile lighting her features. “We’re not as different as you think cowboy.” She set her hand to his collarbone and trailed her fingers down over his t-shirt. That’s when he realized his tac vest and all his gear was gone. How the hell was he getting out of this one? Chained to the ceiling, staring down ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, no gear, no rescue coming.

Some of his uncertainty must have snuck through on his face, because Harper’s smile widened. She stepped back out of the light, and her voice did that echoing thing again that hid exactly where she was. “Settle in Jack Dalton, we’ve got all the time in the world.”


	2. Until Next Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack Dalton doesn't break. Not for anybody. Not for Harper Hayes. But she's thorough, and Jack's getting perilously close to dying on her watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MacGyverAppreciationFornight - seemed only right to continue this story since today is Whump Day! What better subject matter than Harper alone with Jack in a room while Mac is trying to track them down?
> 
> Also: apparently a lot of you guys like Harper as much as I do! Yay!

“Your team tripped my perimeter wire about two minutes ago,” Harper said softly into Jack’s ear. “Which means we have about another 24 minutes together.”

Jack was still gasping for air from the last bout of water boarding she’d put him through, and his retort came out in gasps. “Sweetheart… they… can take… their… sweet… time… We’re… havin’… too much… fun right?” After he got the last bit out he choked again and coughed up a spattering of water. At least she’d had the decency to take him down from the ceiling. Dangling from a chain had been murder on his arms and shoulders, and he'd never been so happy to be tied to a chair in his whole life. Except maybe that one time in Tijuana.

“Oh Jack,” she said, licking her top lip. “You know how I love it when you call me sweetheart.”

Jack tried to repress the shiver rising up in him. Of the things he’d learned about Harper in the past day or so, her tell was the scariest. Whenever she licked her lips he knew something bad was about to happen. The shiver rose up anyway and shook his body against the bonds holding him to the chair.

“You cold Jack?” She asked in that husky voice he was trying his hardest not to find in any way sexy. But there was something alluring in it. She knelt in front of him and slid her hands up his thighs. “I could get out the acetylene torch again, warm you up a little.” She slid her hands a little further, up over his belt and to the skin of his torso that she’d left bare when she’d cut his shirt off. Left bare so she could mark it up. He’d have at least four new scars for sure. Good ones too. Bragging scars.

“Darlin’, with you around, ain’t no way any hot blooded man could stay warm,” Jack said with a smile that tasted coppery like blood. “You’d better go on and get that torch. Only way you’re gonna get me hot and bothered.”

The other thing he knew to look for now was the burst of anger in her eyes whenever he said something to really piss her off. It only flashed for a second before she got it under control again, but there was a flicker in those whiskey flavoured eyes of hers that looked unmistakably like fire.

All he had to do was stall her. If she gave the Phoenix team 24 minutes, Jack was sure Mac could cut that time down. Jack just had to stall her.

“Do you know why I picked you Jack?” She asked, as she stepped out of the circle of light back into the darkness. He heard the unmistakable deep thunking sound of a gas tank being moved around.

“Cause’a my pretty eyes wasn’t it?” Jack asked. He’d given up trying to struggle against the ropes holding him, she was too good for that, they wouldn’t budge.

“You're not wrong cowboy. They're one of your best features,” Harper replied, a smile in her voice, “but no.”

“Oh, I got it!” Jack replied. “I’d put my hand up to answer but, you know,” he said as he wiggled against his bonds. “Tied to a chair and all that. You picked me because you think we’re bosom buddies, right?”

“Gold star for you Jack,” Harper said as she came back into the light carrying the large metal canister, torch attached. “I thought you’d be the most fun, and I wasn’t wrong.”

“It’s that Dalton charm I got,” Jack said. “Passed down through the generations.”

Harper flicked the torch to life. The sound made Jack feel dizzy and lightheaded. Almost over. Just a few more minutes. Give Mac just a few more minutes. He could feel the heat off the torch tip radiating toward him, getting closer and closer.

“I just needed one tidbit of information Jack,” Harper said. “And since you didn’t give it to me, and your team is closing in, you know what that means?” There was that sexy tone again. It made Jack want to run and press her up against the wall in equal amounts.

Jack’s vision was narrowing, turning black, and he couldn’t think of anything clever to say, so he shook his head.

“It means this was just round one Jack,” she said.

He smelled the burning flesh before he even felt it. But once he felt it the adrenaline and pain raced through his system, vying for best lap on the Jack Dalton circuit. The pain tried to make him pass out, and then the adrenaline would tense every muscle and push him back to wakefulness. Jack wouldn’t call out. He refused her that satisfaction and instead clenched his jaw until he was sure he’d break his teeth. Maybe that’s why there was so much blood in his mouth.

Harper pulled the torch back, but kept it lit. “Round one,” she said. “Which means that I’m coming back for you. And you’ll never know when.” She brought the torch close again, but didn’t touch down with it this time, letting anticipation do her work for her. Finally she pulled it back and shut it off. “Maybe one day you’ll be walking to your car with MacGyver in tow,” she continued, “and I’ll shoot him in the gut and leave him to bleed out while I drag you off to a warehouse somewhere to have some fun.”

Threatening Jack was one thing, but Mac was another thing entirely. “If you ever hurt him I swear to you-”

“What, Jack?” She asked, with a laugh that chilled his blood, her eyes cold and full of hatred. “You can’t do a thing Jack. I’ve got you cornered like a little spider and I’m going to pull of each and every one of your little legs before I squish you.”

“What is it with you people and torturing bugs?” Jack asked, changing the subject away from Mac and continuing to stall for time.

Harper smiled and winked at him. “I know what you’re doing Jacky boy,” she said, setting the torch aside. 

She walked over and straddled his lap in the chair, awakening all sorts of injuries she was responsible for. Jack grunted his pain into the cage of his clenched teeth. 

“You’re stalling for time. But don’t you worry about me. I’ve got a fool proof escape plan.” She ground her hips against him, reminding him of the first time she’d tied him to a chair. “Too bad I didn’t have more time with you. I had some really wonderful things planned.” 

She put her hands to his face and pulled herself in to plant a gentle kiss on his lips. Warm, and soft, she smelled like gun oil, acetylene, and something more grounded that he couldn’t place. Soap maybe? Clean laundry? He almost convinced himself to kiss her back, to open his sore mouth to her when she pulled back from him and he remembered what she was. She trailed her hands from his face, down his neck, to his chest where she pressed hard on one of the burns she’d inflicted, watching his face closely for the reaction. Jack stared back as definitely as he could muster, gritting his teeth against the pain. Hands moving lower, she brushed them down across his lap as she stood up.

“Until next time Jack Dalton,” she said, “maybe you’ll be more cooperative. It would be more fun for both of us that way.” Without waiting for a quip from him she darted out of the light and he heard a metallic clang that he assumed was a door closing.

Jack let his head drop back and pushed a heavy breath out of his lungs. Now he just had to wait for Mac. As the adrenaline faded he felt his body start to get cold. First his fingers started to feel like ice, then it travelled up his forearms.

It could have been minutes or hours before he heard Mac’s voice.

“Jack! Jack where are you?” Mac sounded frantic. “You gotta help me out here man! Can you hear me?”

“I’m here!” Jack called back with more frailty than he’d ever admit to afterward, his voice cracking at the end. “Mac! I’m here!”

The light went off overhead. Jack had been wrong, it wasn’t natural light. Just a big ole spotlight designed to mess with his senses. Now it was turned off and he could see outside that blinding bubble he’d been stuck in.

Riley stood by a rusted out metal door, her hand on the light switch. “I found him!” She called back over her shoulder as she rushed to the chair. “Mac! In here!”

“Riles?” Jack almost started crying right there. “I’d hug you, but…” he tried to joke but his voice failed.

Riley smiled up at him sadly. “I’m gonna hold you to that, ok?” She said as she started on the ropes at this feet. “One Jack Dalton hug on the back burner.”

“You got it Ri,” Jack promised, “anything. You got it.” Suddenly a thought short circuited his brain and he looked around the little room. “You didn’t clear the room Ri! She could still be here!”

“Jack, settle down,” Riley said, freeing his first foot, and going to work on the second. “We’ve got the whole building on thermal. You’re the only one here. She used some tunnels to get out, but they go too deep and we lost track of her.” She looked back over her shoulder and called out for Mac again. “Mac! He’s in here!”

Riley had just cut Jack’s second hand free when the door she’d come through slammed against the wall and Mac burst through it, his eyes panicked. He crossed the room so quick it was almost superhuman. He damn near pushed Riley out of the way. She stepped aside with a nod as Mac knelt in front of Jack looking like he was afraid to touch him. Jack was jolted back to Harper Hayes kneeling in front of him in the exact same position, running her hands up his thighs, just where Mac’s hands were resting now. Jack flinched and turned his head away instinctively.

Jack hadn’t even moved his hands after Riley untied them and they dangled at his side by the chair leg. He was so tired and hurt he didn’t think he could do anything but sit there until he just died.

Mac’s seemingly furnace-hot hands took Jack's cold ones, their fingers tangling together. “Jack? You’re freezing,” Mac said. He spoke to Riley without looking at her. “He’s in shock. Get the medical team in here right now!”

“Mac… I…” Jack didn’t know what to say, or how to say anything. He’d never been so happy to see anybody in his whole life and warm tears spilled over so salty from dehydration that they stung his eyes.

Mac lifted his hands from Jack’s and the retreating warmth felt like suffocating. It robbed Jack's lungs of air and let the cold seep back in. 

Mac’s face shifted from anger to sadness, back and forth between the two emotions as he looked over the wounds on Jack’s chest and stomach. Mac’s nimble fingers hovered over the surface of Jack’s skin, like he wanted to touch and heal and make it better. Like there was something he could build to make it all go away.

The distance between them was too much, not when it could be so easily closed, and Jack leaned forward in the chair underestimating his weakened state, and falling into Mac’s arms. The sudden embrace drew a grunt of agony from Jack as the open wounds on his chest pressed up against Mac. There was nothing Mac could do but bear the weight and lift Jack to stand.

Mac hugged him tight, cradling the back of his head, and whispering into his ear. “God, Jack, I’m so sorry,” he said, “this was because of me. I brought us here. You told me it was a bad idea. You felt it in your gut.”

Jack smiled against the warm skin of Mac’s neck. “Maybe next time you’ll listen.”


End file.
